Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing

The Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing (FSMFN) offers a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree and post-master’s certificates leading to education as a certified nurse-midwife (CNM), family nurse practitioner (FNP), and/or a women’s health care nurse practitioner (WHCNP). The FSMFN seeks to meet the needs of prospective nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners who do not want to leave their home communities to obtain the graduate education they desire to fulfill their professional aspirations. Didactic coursework is delivered using web-based, distance education courses allowing students to achieve their higher education goals without leaving home for classes. Using clinics, hospitals, and preceptors in their own community allows students to get the hands-on clinical experience required for these exciting health care professions. Two on-campus sessions are required, including an orientation prior to beginning studies, and intensive skill workshops prior to beginning the clinical practicum.

MISSION

The Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing is a private, non-profit, non-residential community-based, distance education graduate school offering a Master of Science in Nursing Degree and certificates in advanced practice specialties. Our mission is to provide a high quality education that prepares nurses to become competent, entrepreneurial, ethical and compassionate nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners who will provide primary care for women and families residing in all areas with a focus on rural and medically underserved populations.

HISTORY

The Frontier Graduate School of Midwifery was started in 1939 by the Frontier Nursing Service (FNS) as a part of its demonstration project in the care of the mother and child in rural areas of Kentucky. When FNS began using nurse-midwives in the United States in 1925, it was able to secure a qualified staff in only two ways, by sending the American nurses to Great Britain for graduate training or by enlisting British nurses already qualified as midwives. In the early years, the FNS offered scholarships to American nurses to go to Great Britain for training in nurse-midwifery, and recruited British nurse-midwives.

From the beginning, Mary Breckinridge viewed nurse-midwifery as central to health care. When World War II started in 1939, a number of the British members of the FNS staff wished to return to their homes. Under war conditions, it was not possible to continue to send American nurses to Great Britain. The FNS immediately put into operation its plan for a graduate school of nurse-midwifery. The Frontier Graduate School of Midwifery enrolled its first class November 1, 1939. The Frontier School has been in continuous operation since that time.

As the number of births decreased in Leslie County during the 1980s it became difficult to support a traditional midwifery program. In 1989 the nurse-midwifery program was transferred to the University of New Mexico. That class graduated on October 27, 1991 under the flag of the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing (FSMFN). During this time period, the Community-based Nurse-midwifery Education Program (CNEP) began as a pilot project funded by the PEW Foundation. The development of the CNEP was originally a cooperative effort of the Maternity Center Association (MCA), the National Association of Childbearing Centers (NACC), Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, Case Western Reserve University (FPBSON/CWRU) and the Frontier Nursing Service (FNS). The goal was to enable nurses to remain in their communities while obtaining graduate education as nurse-midwives and ultimately increase the number of practicing nurse-midwives working in underserved areas. The pilot project was very successful. In 1990, the FSMFN recognized that the CNEP model of education matched its own goals and mission. The President of the School and the Board of Directors voted to adopt the CNEP as its nurse-midwifery education program in 1991. Since then CNEP has graduated over 1100 nurse-midwives.

In the late 1960s, the Frontier Nursing Service recognized that as health care options became more complex, a broader based education was necessary for nurses to be able to provide comprehensive primary care to all family members. At this time the FSMFN developed the first certificate program to prepare family nurse practitioners. In 1970, the name of the School was changed to the FSMFN to reflect the addition of the FNP program. The last class to graduate from the combined family nurse-midwifery program was in August of 1990. The Community-based Family Nurse Practitioner (CFNP) education program was reestablished in 1999 using the CNEP distance education model. With the acceptance of CFNP class 1 in 1999, the FSMFN comes full circle in its mission to educate nurses to provide primary care that is comprehensive, safe, and culturally sensitive. In 2003 FSMFN began offering an MSN in the specialties of nurse-midwifery and family nurse practitioner, and a certificate in the women’s health care nurse practitioner specialty. In 2005, FSMFN added the Women’s Health Care Nurse Practitioner track to the MSN options and added a post-master’s certificate for all three tracks.

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Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing Location

Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing Courses

PHYSICAL ASSESSMENT
This course is designed to provide the knowledge base and technical competencies essential to history taking, physical examination, and diagnostic procedures. The content in this course will serve as a foundation for the assessment skills necessary for the clinical management decisions the nurse-midwife and nurse practitioner must make in providing care to clients and their families across the life span. There will be a community-based didactic portion and an on-site clinical development of knowledge and skills.

COMMUNICATION
The focus of this course is on increasing knowledge and skill in the communication modalities used by professional nurses in primary care. Emphasis will be on therapeutic communication, scholarly communication, and interdisciplinary communication. Legal, ethical, and cultural factors affecting communication will be explored.

STATISTICS
This course is designed to provide the student with the tools and techniques needed to describe, organize and interpret data or information. Techniques will include both descriptive and inferential statistics that are commonly used by the discipline of nursing.

LEADERSHIP
This course is designed to synthesize previous nursing experiences with the philosophical, social, political, legal, and ethical issues inherent in professional nursing practice in primary care. Emphasis is on understanding and developing the key skills employed by nursing leaders in an advanced practice setting.

THEORIES AND RESEARCH
This is an introductory course in nursing theory and the application of theory to nursing research. Special emphasis will be given to critiquing selected nursing theories and using research for evidence-based primary care practice.

COMMUNITY HEALTH
This course emphasizes the application of the nursing process to promote community health. Concepts of community assessment, community health education, and community planning will be examined. Legal, ethical, cultural, economic, and social factors affecting health care will be considered.

COMMUNITY HEALTH PRACTICUM
This course consists of practicum experiences that are designed to develop beginning skills in community assessment, community education, interdisciplinary coalition building, and collaboration.

HEALTH PROMOTION & DISEASE
This course presents concepts, strategies, and guidelines necessary for the maintenance and promotion of personal and patient health. Content that builds on previ is introduced. Through case studies, students will have an opportunity to develop teaching strategies that lead patients toward optimal levels of wellness based on the tenets of EBP.

PATHOPHYSIOLOGY FOR PRIMARY CARE
Pathophysiology for Primary Care provides the student practice. This course presents an integrated approach to Pathophysiology that demonstrates the interdependency of body systems and the effects of key pathophysiologic processes. Clinical content is included as an application of Pathophysiology and will assist the student to understand

DECISION MAKING IN HEALTH ASSESSMENT
management process as a framework for developing critical thinking and diagnostic reasoning skills needed for caring for the primary care client. Focus includes: recognition of symptom patterns; selection and interpretations of common screening and diagnostic laboratory tests; communication of information using SOAP format; consideration of client as partner in the diagnostic process.

THEORIES AND CONCEPTS OF ADVANCED PRIMARY CARE NURSING
This course provides the theoretical and conceptual framework for advanced nursing practice in primary care and focuses on the relationship of theory and knowledge development in nursing to research and practice. Emphasis is placed on the theories and concepts commonly used by nurse midwives and nurse practitioners in primary care. The contemporary meaning of praxis and its relation to nursing and development of nursing knowledge is introduced.

PHARMACOLOGY FOR ADVANCED PRACTICE
Principles of pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics across the life span serve as the foundation for this comprehensive course in pharmacology for prescribers. Emphasis is placed on understanding the physiological action of drugs, expected client responses, and major side effects. Issues related to evidence-based.

WOMEN'S HEALTH I
Basic principles of primary health care for women and management of common gynecological disorders across the lifespan are presented in this course. Course content is approached from a context of the ages of reproductive development in order to integrate the natural social, emotional, and biophysical needs of women.

WOMEN'S HEALTH CARE
This course encompasses promotion and maintenance of gynecologic health, as well as the assessment, diagnosis, and management of common gynecologic conditions different physical and psychosocial life stages of women are presented. Emphasis is placed upon the importance of the interrelationship of gender, social class, culture, ethnicity, sexual orientation, economic status, and socio- political power differentials upon women's health care is also discussed.

PRIMARY HEALTH CARE I: ACUTE AND COMMON PROBLEMS
Reasoning strategies needed for primary care management of adults with commonly occurring health reasoning process will be presented. Principles of cultural beliefs are integrated in the development of evidence-based management plans for those common and acute illnesses most likely to be encountered in the primary care setting. Clinical research and standards of care provide evidence-based rationales for clinical decision-making.

RESEARCH
The research course focuses on the analysis and critical evaluation of research methodology appropriate to nursing practice. Emphasis will be on use of research in one's practice as a consumer, participant and originator of clinical research.

HEALTH ASSESSMENT
This course focuses on development and validation of physical examination skills and mastery of performance of a health history.

PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN HEALTH CARE DELIVERY
This course focuses on issues that are relevant to the and professional responsibilities. The course is designed to build upon the student's current knowledge of practice settings and preparation for professional practice, including resume writing and contract negotiation. Issues that impact autonomy in practice, mechanisms of quality assurance, and ways in which to maintain clinical competence are discussed. Students practice interviewing and coding, discuss ethical decision-making, and explore students will have an opportunity to evaluate the nuances of political activism and review ways in which to impact policy on the local, state, and national levels.

WOMEN'S HEALTH II
This course provides an on-campus skills-intensive practicum focusing on assessment and clinical care of healthy women. Skills focus on clinical and laboratory aspects of assessment which include but are not limited to: speculum examination, bimanual examination including pelimetry; wet mounts and microscopy; insertion and removal of an IUD; performance of

SKILLS FOR PRIMARY CARE
This course provides the student with the opportunity to learn and practice health assessment, women's health, and ante partum hands-on skills in an on-campus didactic classroom and clinical laboratory. Students also participate in role plays and clinical scenarios in preparation for interaction with clients during the clinical practicum.

PRIMARY CARE INDEPENDENT STUDY
This course is designed for students to complete supervised study related to primary care. The content varies according to individual needs and interest.

THE ROLE OF MIDWIFERY AND BIRTH CENTERS IN AMERICA
Nurse-Midwives. The content of this course includes the historical development and evolution of nurse- midwifery, birth centers, the American College of Nurse Midwives, and the American Association of social, political, and economic changes over the past century, and the people involved, the politics, health payment mechanisms of the times. It will highlight the major turning points in the interrelated development of medicine, nursing, and nurse-midwifery within the major social, political, and economic changes, from the industrial revolution to the establishment of the medical industrial complex to the technological revolution of the new millennium. It will include the impact of the development of the birth center concept. While attending the AABC "How to Start a Birth Center" Workshop, students learn about small business principles for establishing and maintaining a midwifery practice or service using the birth center as a case study.

REPRODUCTIVE ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY
This course provides a basis for midwifery and women's health care nurse practitioner practice by presenting information on reproductive physiology including female reproductive anatomy, reproduction, basic embryology and fetal development, maternal anatomical and physiological alterations associated with pregnancy, labor, and birth.

COMMUNITY ASSESSMENT AND MARKET RESEARCH
This course is designed as a practicum in learning about your community. The course takes the student into the base for practice and the operation of a birth center; general information on the community's population characteristics, economy, transportation and health indicators; availability and access to maternity care services and social support agencies; the readiness of consumers and providers in the community for nurse- midwives and birth centers.

ANTEPARTUM CARE I
This course is made up of a sequence of modules designed to provide the knowledge base for clinical midwifery management of the healthy pregnant woman. Content for this course covers the basics of prenatal care and stresses the developmental changes that can be expected during the course of pregnancy. Promotion of optimal health and outcome by the provision of midwifery care is discussed. Prevention of problems through the promotion of healthy behaviors by the pregnant woman and her family is a key focus of the course. Emphasis is also on midwifery teaching and supportive care that enhances the normal processes of pregnancy and birth.

INTRAPARTUM CARE I
This course contains seven modules designed to assist the midwifery student in attaining the basic knowledge needed to provide care during an uncomplicated labor and birth. Emphasis is placed on comparing different management options through a review of literature in order to assist women in making informed choices and participating in decisions about their care during labor and birth.

POSTPARTUM AND NEWBORN CARE
This course focuses on the normal anatomical changes of the puerperium and the normal physiologic changes of the fetus and newborn. It is designed to provide a foundation for the management of care of the basically normal postpartum woman and newborn.

ANTEPARTUM CARE
This course is made up of a sequence of modules designed to provide the knowledge base for clinical midwifery management of the healthy pregnant woman. Content for this course covers the basics of prenatal care, and stresses the developmental changes that can be expected during the course of pregnancy. Promotion of optimal health and outcome by the provision of midwifery care is discussed. Prevention of problems through the promotion of healthy behaviors by the pregnant woman and her family is a key focus of the course. Emphasis is also on midwifery teaching and supportive care that enhances the normal processes of pregnancy and birth.

INTRAPARTUM CARE
This course is designed to assist the midwifery student in attaining the basic knowledge needed to provide care during an uncomplicated labor and birth. Emphasis is placed on comparing different management options through a review of literature in order to assist women in making informed choices and participating in decisions about their care during labor and birth.

POSTPARTUM AND NEWBORN CARE
This course focuses on normal anatomical changes of the puerperium, including lactation, and the normal anatomical and physiologic changes of the fetus and newborn. It is designed to provide a foundation for the management of care of the basically normal postpartum woman and newborn. Content also includes breastfeeding, postpartum, and newborn teaching, as well as societal, and cultural issues surrounding the will be covered.

ANTEPARTUM CARE II
This course focuses on the critical thinking process required to make complete and pertinent prenatal assessments and development of a management plan. This is accomplished through the process of problem based learning exercises and case study learning. Hands-on skills pertinent to the antepartum period are emphasized, such as Leopold's maneuvers, fundal height measurement and assessment of clinical pelvimetry. Emphasis is placed on sensitive and caring client interaction, and midwifery and women's health care nurse practitioner scope of practice.

Other nursing schools in Kentucky

Murray State University (Department of Nursing) MISSION The mission of the Department of Nursing is to educate generalists and advance practice nurses to meet the health care needs of the service... Address: 121 Mason Hall

Morehead State University (Department of Nursing) MISSION STATEMENT The mission of Morehead State University Department of Nursing is to promote health and well-being among the people of Northeaste... Address: 234 Reed Hall

Western Kentucky University (School of Nursing) Welcome to the School of Nursing at Western Kentucky University. Our mission is to provide undergraduate and graduate education, and lifelong learning... Address: 1906 College Heights Blvd. #11036

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